Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1323 - 2.1 Introduction

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### 2.1 Introduction

The window scale extension expands the definition of the TCP window to 32 bits and then uses a scale factor to carry this 32- bit value in the 16-bit Window field of the TCP header (SEG.WND in RFC-793). The scale factor is carried in a new TCP option, Window Scale. This option is sent only in a SYN segment (a segment with the SYN bit on), hence the window scale is fixed in each direction when a connection is opened. (Another design choice would be to specify the window scale in every TCP segment. It would be incorrect to send a window scale option only when the scale factor changed, since a TCP option in an acknowledgement segment will not be delivered reliably (unless the ACK happens to be piggy-backed on data in the other direction). Fixing the scale when the connection is opened has the advantage of lower overhead but the disadvantage that the scale factor cannot be changed during the connection.)

The maximum receive window, and therefore the scale factor, is determined by the maximum receive buffer space. In a typical modern implementation, this maximum buffer space is set by default but can be overridden by a user program before a TCP connection is opened. This determines the scale factor, and therefore no new user interface is needed for window scaling.

Next: 2.2 Window Scale Option

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1323 - 2.1 Introduction